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It looks like Google has been testing out new voice files to play while using their navigation finally getting away from the overmodulated computer generated voice instructions.
About one month or so ago I was navigating and for a few instruction heard this very clear female voice. This sparked my interest in why it only said two steps of the entire trip and thought they did an update.
Finally I had some free time and went searching and found nothing documented on this change in voice instructions from google. I found ways to utilize the text-to-speach to change the voice, but nothing official from google.
Tonight I was searching my SD card and found under a folder called "Android" more sub folders which were for google navigation which also had two zips inside it as well with TESTDATA for that clear voice I heard about a month ago. One of the zips has english imperial and one in english metric.
Now the question is - how can we make this to play fulltime?
+1this is the only thing I don't like about Google Navigation.
|NeXus S 4G|
I forgot to add the zip of the imperial voice files I found on the SD card. See attached.
I found the new voice too!
I'am italian, and the voice are in italian!!
waiting for a google maps update soon!
Indeed, my fellow Trentino!
Would be a great update to their navigation software. It is just super strange that every so often you will hear the new voice for just one or two directions and it goes back to the modulated voice. Too bad I don't know enough to make it work already. I sure hope that an update gets released soon.
amart79196 said:
About one month or so ago I was navigating and for a few instruction heard this very clear female voice. This sparked my interest in why it only said two steps of the entire trip and thought they did an update.
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Do you remember which version of GMM was you using a month ago?
I first noticed this while on vacation 2 weeks ago in San Diego, that same day I opened the app again and her soothing voice was gone. I hate the robot voice, so she's always on mute lol
Sent from my Transformer TF101 using XDA Premium App
Same here, it's been like 2 o 3 weeks i've noticed a different female voice for some indications...
in italian
Is there anyway to look through voices and pick one to use?
Sent From My HTC Evo 4G Using Tapatalk On The Now Network From Sprint.
Not sure what version it was that it got downloaded with...
I too have heard the fully formed female voice in Google Navigation. It seems to only come up for simple navigation instructions (Turn Left) and not more detailed ones (in one mile, turn left on Main Street).
Also, interesting thing I noticed. If your SD card is out or unmounted, Navigation will use a series of tones to indicate what type of notification you need to take note of for turns and such. Single Dings for upcoming movement, Double Ding for immediate movement, long ding for continue on blah blah. I thought it was interesting.
That all being said, for people who absolutely hate the native Pico TTS voices, you should try the SVOX series of voices on the market. They day and night better, and also seem to have more language locales. They have a few novelty US English ones also, but I don't care for them. I believe they are something 2-3 US$ per voice. Each one is something like 15MB (but can be moved to SD almost entirely).
ryocoon said:
That all being said, for people who absolutely hate the native Pico TTS voices, you should try the SVOX series of voices on the market. They day and night better, and also seem to have more language locales. They have a few novelty US English ones also, but I don't care for them. I believe they are something 2-3 US$ per voice. Each one is something like 15MB (but can be moved to SD almost entirely).
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You should try IVONA - it's the best voice synthesizer in the world You could try it on its website: http://www.ivona.com/ and I think application for Android has same quality of voice as WWW.
I also noticed the new voice about a week or two ago. It said the first direction and after that it was gone. I never knew about other voice synthesizers could be used too. I'll have to try these in the mean time until Google changes their default voice.
I do not use map map quest so I don't know what my phone has navigation on me since 2013 and I have had prepaid phone and always get New ones now I have had this phone for about 6months and is shows m my locations since 2013 on prepaid phones I never use map quest and it has a recorded and photos of my exact locations weird helper figure this out some one
I've got the sprint evo lte with the charmelon rom on it. I'm not sure if this is something in the rom (thread is locked so i cant ask there) or if its something in android 4.0.x in general.
But for the last several weeks, maybe a month or two, google navigation seems to switch between two different voices.
One of them sounds much more artificial/computer generated, where as the second one sounds very human like a recording. I haven't really noticed a pattern to when it uses one voice over the other. Today for example it told me to make right turn and then make a left turn using the more human sounding voice. When i got to the point where i needed to make the left turn (which was maybe 10 seconds after i made the right) it switched back to the more artificial voice. In both cases it said pretty much the same thing so I don't understand why it needed to switch.
Is one voice generated by google's servers and downloaded? and the other voice generated on the phone itself?
Ok so. I've been really wanting so much to like this new Nokia Lumia 920. I've had been waiting to get rid of this IPhone 4 because I remember the days of my brick HTC Tilt and how customizable Windows 6 phones were. So far, I'm am disappointed. It isn't that I hate the phone. It is just that I expected more. I was expecting a lot out of this phone and it has not met the high standard that I (they) set for it.
The first major complaint is the camera. Are we being fooled into thinking it is that much better in low light. Yes, from what I've seen in reviews, it is better, but in my own experience, it isn't that much greater (I have tried auto and night mode). Am I too used to SLR pictures? The camera was supposed to be a big selling point! We have already been fooled once by Nokia about their "Pure View." (http: // articles.latimes.com/2012/sep/06/business/la-fi-tn-nokia-fake-ad-20120906) I wonder if all of this is just a scam. Now it seems that Nokia is owning up to more camera flaws (http: // pocketnow.com/2012/11/05/nokia-lumia-920-camera-fix). I really hope that this isn't a hardware issue and that they fix it right and not try any tricks. It isn't that the pictures/videos I take are bad, but they aren't that much greater(if they are greater) than the competition. Duped?
Battery life: I just switched from an IPhone 4 with no 4G LTE so i'm unaware of the battery consumption of 4G LTE but I have noticed that the battery sure does drain a lot quicker. I'm used to being able to go a couple of days without having to charge. I have noticed ways of getting the phone to last longer. Ff you run Nokia Drive beta, the GPS stays on in the background even when it is closed (you will notice a target at the top status bar remains on). You can turn the background option off, or you have to restart your phone to turn off the GPS and it can consume your battery. Yes, this should be an easy fix, but think about all the people that have to deal with this. Also there is not way to switch off 4G LTE.
Limited voice commands: I'm a big user of the voice commands to play my music. One of the first things I've noticed about this phone is that there are no voice commands from the touch and hold windows button that allow you to play your music. I get it that you can get the "Hey DJ" app and use voice commands for music, but why didn't they just integrate this into the OS so that I don't have to unlock my screen, and tap a few places. Isn't the point of voice commands so that you don't have to look at the screen.
Here are some other small complaints (Maybe some XDA developers could help cook up some changes.... I have paypal ).
No separate volume for ringer and music.
Internet explorer is limited when you search through Google
It is easy to accidentally press the back or the search when using the phone with one hand and reaching across the screen.
No apparent way that I have found to get the Nokia Drive Beta to repeat the last spoken direction.
No seeking option in visual voice mail. You have to listen to the whole thing all over again to get to one point in the voicemail.
Bottom line. This phone seems rushed and unpolished. I got it that some of these issues are OS issues, but come on! Am I expecting too much or isn't this the phone that Nokia was making such a large deal about? 10 more days to give this a try before my return policy expires. Come on Nokia and Microsoft. Change my mind!
Camera taking blurry pictures is a SW issue, as you probably know from having read about it, which hopefully theyll have sorted out fast in an SW update. The nighttime pictures Ive taken are very nice, though, so I dont know whats going on there.
Battery for me is fine, Ive only had my phone for a day, so I cant really say much, but the way its worked so far it seems about the same as my SGS3 in that department. Which is quite good. But of course, I need more time for that.
Voice commands I never was a big user of, since I feel like a moron walking around yelling commands in english (especially when Im in a non-english speaking country). But Im sure its annoying.
Volume thing I agree on, that should be an easy fix for MS to make, really.
Not sure what you mean by "limited" when searching through Google?
The accidental pressing is much like on the SGS3, really. Just a habitual thing, youll get used to handling the phone so you eventually dont mispress.
Iunno, I have a single real annoyance and that is wordwrapping in IE10.
i'm not sure what you were expecting from the camera, but the low light shots are some of the best i've ever taken with a smartphone. and i've had my share of smartphones (this year i've probably had between 8-10 different handsets from various oem's) the daytime shots are a little bit soft, but on par with some of the better smarphone camera's i've used, and it's something that is completely possible to fix via firmware updates (as in, it's not a hardware flaw, but rather a software one)
battery is pretty good for me, on par with my SGS3, it's so much better than my 4s on iOS6 though. there are a couple quirks that are causing the battery to drain rapidly, but people haven't been able to point the blame completely yet. some people have had google accounts getting stuck on syncing constantly and that is killing the battery and the only solution for now is a hard reset. it's an odd issue since it wasn't present in wp7.x and afaik the method wp8 uses to sync is the same as before. it's something that will most likely be fixed via software updates as well
limited voice commands are something that wp8 has the ability to deal with but i'm also bummed they didn't add more voice controls to the built in apps. music in general seems like a really rushed revamp in wp8 which is surprising since the zune software was quite well done in 7.x and was also a major feature which i liked a lot about windows phone. they're changing a bunch of stuff though so it's something that will probably be updated over time. personally i don't like voice commands outside of when i'm driving because i feel like it's faster to just use my fingers, but i understand your disappointment.
volume is something i agree on as well, why microsoft hasn't figured out this is something people have been wanting since 7.0 is beyond me, it really seems like a pretty simple change to make, especially when one is rewriting the entire OS.
accidental pressing is something that will lessen with muscle memory, i always have a lot of issues with button presses and a lot of typos when switching phones, but after a couple weeks you learn to do it a lot less.
i remember getting drive to repeat the last direction, but for the life of me right now i can't figure out what i did. if i figure it out, i'll post it.
the OS isn't for everyone, but for people who like the curated user experience a semi-closed system provides, but don't like apple's 1 handset philosophy it's a good platform.
i admit, i get bored sometimes and end up going to android, but almost always, after about a month of whatever the latest and greatest android handset, i always come back to windows phone. once you figure out your workflow on it, it's really the most efficient and fluid mobile OS out there.
Slai said:
Not sure what you mean by "limited" when searching through Google?
Iunno, I have a single real annoyance and that is wordwrapping in IE10.
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Word wrapping is exactly what I mean when I say searching through Google is limited. If you use IE and search through google, at the top of the page, you get a: "This page adapted for your browser comes from...." If you search through through the built in Bing search, you don't get the word wrap. You get the actual page. This is very lame and I think its Microsoft's way of getting us to use Bing instead of google.
Also if you just enter the URL, there is no text wrapping.
Okay? Ive set Google as my default search engine in IE10, and while word wrapping doesnt seem to exist and double-tap to zoom isnt really working perfectly, I havent seen a big change from searching with google and searching with bing or just using a bookmark or directly typing in the url :s ?
vangj said:
Word wrapping is exactly what I mean when I say searching through Google is limited. If you use IE and search through google, at the top of the page, you get a: "This page adapted for your browser comes from...." If you search through through the built in Bing search, you don't get the word wrap. You get the actual page. This is very lame and I think its Microsoft's way of getting us to use Bing instead of google.
Also if you just enter the URL, there is no text wrapping.
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This will happen if you have the 'defaul view' as desktop, if you select 'mobile' they will display fine, it is annoying, what I did was install the Google app and I just use that for my search and browsing.
Slai said:
Okay? Ive set Google as my default search engine in IE10, and while word wrapping doesnt seem to exist and double-tap to zoom isnt really working perfectly, I havent seen a big change from searching with google and searching with bing or just using a bookmark or directly typing in the url :s ?
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Ok so it does text wrap well if you choose the mobile option for internet explore. I for one do not like the mobile version and chose to set my settings to desktop (sorry still a newbie so i can't post links)
ht tp://postimage.org/image/w6w5t09ml/
If you set your IE settings to desktop and search with Google, you get a funky altered website that looks like this at the top.
ht tp://postimage.org/image/j1gnmwfr1/
It seems like the phone is sending to Google that it wants to still be a mobile phone. When you search with Bing you don't get this option. If you search with Google in Desktop mode, you can scroll to the bottom to get to the desktop site but it can be a hassle.
ht tp://postimage.org/image/5zuyx1rct/
Like I said, I like the desktop mode because I can zoom in and out and make great use of this huge screen.
Hoping google releases Chrome.
Yeah normally I like using desktop mode myself, but my most visited website works really well in its mobile form, so I figured "what the hell".
Would be interesting to see Chrome for WP8. I dont see why not, it is available for W8.
vangj said:
If you set your IE settings to desktop and search with Google, you get a funky altered website that looks like this at the top.
http://postimage.org/image/j1gnmwfr1/
It seems like the phone is sending to Google that it wants to still be a mobile phone. When you search with Bing you don't get this option.
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If you look at the URL of the page in your sample image, the URL is one on Google.com. It seems that Google recognized that you're on a phone and gave you a search results page that contains modified URLs that point back to Google itself (not to xda-developers.com) and that Google then proxied it for you, reformatting things to fit your phone.
Your complaint seems to be with Google for forcing you in to a "mobilized" view. Unless Google can't tell which "website preference" you're set to (mobile or desktop). I don't know how that preference gets conveyed in HTTP requests. Sorry.
vangj said:
Also there is not way to switch off 4G LTE.
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My Rogers variant has the "max speed" option to shut off LTE. The AT&T one doesn't seem to have that... so this is an AT&T issue, not a Nokia one. And if AT&T is doing this on Windows Phone, I'd assume they are customizing their Android phones similarly, no? (I have no experience with Android.)
vangj said:
Limited voice commands: I'm a big user of the voice commands to play my music. One of the first things I've noticed about this phone is that there are no voice commands from the touch and hold windows button that allow you to play your music. I get it that you can get the "Hey DJ" app and use voice commands for music, but why didn't they just integrate this into the OS so that I don't have to unlock my screen, and tap a few places. Isn't the point of voice commands so that you don't have to look at the screen.
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This is an OS issue, so not too much to do with Nokia. The voice commands in WP8 are extensible. That means 3rd party developers can easily create apps that support it. I think Urbanspoon, Hey DJ and Audible are already out and support voice commands (meaning you can launch the apps by long pressing the windows button).
I expect a lot more apps will add that feature because it's so easy to implement. That makes the lack of voice commands for the built in apps really strange.
EShy said:
This is an OS issue, so not too much to do with Nokia. The voice commands in WP8 are extensible. That means 3rd party developers can easily create apps that support it. I think Urbanspoon, Hey DJ and Audible are already out and support voice commands (meaning you can launch the apps by long pressing the windows button).
I expect a lot more apps will add that feature because it's so easy to implement. That makes the lack of voice commands for the built in apps really strange.
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Uhm, you could always launch ANY app with your voice, even on WP7.
Those new apps support voice commands for other things. For example, from your start screen you might be able to say, "Urbanspoon, find nearby burgers" and it'll launch and go straight to finding burger restaurants around you. I have no clue what their apps actually support, but I know that it's possible to make an app that does that!
Over the last year or so I have been weening myself off of my Verizon feature phone. The journey didn't need to be anywhere near as arduous as I made it out to be, but for a time I had competing goals that sent me in different directions. Here's what I finally settled on. Before you read any further understand that, to my knowledge, this will only work in the US and it will cost you about $5.50 a month for unlimited calling.
Device: Samsung Galaxy Player 4.0(US)
Kernel: TerraSilent 1.3.5 courtesy of Dark_Balor
ROM: Icy Fusion release version 2.3 courtesy of Klin1344
CPU governor: SmartAssV2
Scheduler: deadline(no idea why but this scheduler works markedly better than others for this task)
Min CPU speed: 400MHz(Skype stutters if set lower)
Max CPU speed: 1200MHz
Wi-Fi Sleep Policy: Never
Apps needed for this: Skype, Google Voice, SetCPU(requires root)
Sign up for Google Voice. The settings are rather spartan, but the key issue that people encounter is that they need a phone number. Yes, Google Voice let's you choose a number but that is not tied to a device. What Google wants is for you to give out your Google Voice number and have that ring your cell phone, home phone, work phone, etc. but what if you have a Samsung Galaxy Player without a phone number? Skype, but more specifically we'll need pay features.
Sign up for Skype. We need two things for this to work and for it to be relatively cheap. First you'll need a calling plan from Skype(I chose unlimited US and Canada for $2.99 month to month). Once you have that you will see offers to purchase a Skype Number for 50% off($30 a year after discount). Once you have those items you can go back to Google Voice, click on Settings, under the "Phones" tab click "Add another phone" and then have Google Voice call you to verify that your Skype Number is yours.
The really cool part is that Skype let's you display your Google Voice number when you dial in Skype so the Skype Number essentially disappears. When someone dials your Google Voice number it will ring on your Galaxy Player, your PC(if you run the Skype client), or any other number you specify.
The downside
You're locked into Skype. No matter how you slice it it won't be free unless you forgo the Skype Number and calling plan which obliterates any hope of dialing to phones. If you opt for the calling plan then skip on the Skype Number you're forced to wait for someone to call, miss it, get the notification of a missed call, then dial them back. The Skype app itself has been buggy in the past. Running the Skype app 24/7 definitely cuts into the performance of our devices since they are at the far low end of the hardware spectrum. Can you multitask? Yes. Is it pretty? Not really. I can be assured of not missing a call and listen to music, but if the device syncs other application in the background then everything else beyond music and Skype grinds to a halt for a good 20-30 seconds.
You'll need to manually add your contacts to Skype.
It costs money. This point cannot be understated. It may be less than $6 a month but some people may not want to tack on the price of two trips to Starbucks for something they would rarely, if ever use. There are a lot of apps that will let you make calls for free and even if the quality or limitations blow free is still free.
Using a BT headset with the Skype app is hit or miss. The latency is noticeable.
But what about GrooveIP or Google Mail calling?
Amazing app in that it seamlessly works with Google Voice and Google Contacts, but I never got decent call quality. I could always hear everyone crystal clear(really, it was amazing quality), but no one could hear me all that well. I tried for months to make it work, but I could not replicate some success other Android users experienced even if I copied their settings. Skype worked almost immediately and people love the quality. Additionally I love taking calls on my PC with Skype. Yes, you can use Gmail(on a desktop) to make and receive calls but my experience was that that is more of an oddity than a solution. I can't get Gmail calls to be loud enough and I've had countless experiences where I close a tab(Gmail) thinking I was done with it only to miss a call. The stand alone Skype application for Windows combined with the Android Skype app is the best solution I have found.
"My device pissed all over itself. Skype sucks."
The Galaxy Player is ridiculously underpowered even compared to the Samsung Galaxy S. I have gotten Skype to work well by throwing almost everything else overboard. I was messing around with Winamp and for some reason Skype kept signing out and nothing I did short of a reboot would get it to sign back in. I uninstalled Winamp and all of the sudden I can Skype, play music, and use Firefox at the same time with no issues other than Firefox being noticeably slower than usual. Phones from 2010 sucked. The Galaxy Player is below the standards of a phone from 2010. You will need to treat Skype delicately to say the least.
I set up an ipbxes.org account and linked my SIP to google voice so I can just use the native dialer in android with internet calling. it's a lot less power-thirsty than skype and has a much better interface IMO. plus you don't need credits.
halomademeapc said:
I set up an ipbxes.org account and linked my SIP to google voice so I can just use the native dialer in android with internet calling. it's a lot less power-thirsty than skype and has a much better interface IMO. plus you don't need credits.
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Awesome solution. I settled on Skype because it was brainless and worked with software I already enjoyed(Skype for desktop Windows). I tried Ekiga(my only venture into VOIP outside Mumble/Teamspeak/Ventrilo) a few years back but I didn't like it for some reason. Anyway, if you have time I'd love to see a write up of what you did.
halomademeapc said:
I set up an ipbxes.org account and linked my SIP to google voice so I can just use the native dialer in android with internet calling. it's a lot less power-thirsty than skype and has a much better interface IMO. plus you don't need credits.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wait, can you tell me the process to making the native dialer work? And what is ipbxes.org? When I enter the url it says "Webpage not available."
the playa! said:
Wait, can you tell me the process to making the native dialer work? And what is ipbxes.org? When I enter the url it says "Webpage not available."
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I think the "i" was an accident. The correct website is "pbxes.org". You will have to be on a non-stock-based ROM ICS or JB to use the native dialer. Open the dialer, Menu -> Settings -> at the bottom, "Internet Calling" -> enter credentials for SIP account.
Mevordel said:
I think the "i" was an accident. The correct website is "pbxes.org". You will have to be on a non-stock-based ROM ICS or JB to use the native dialer. Open the dialer, Menu -> Settings -> at the bottom, "Internet Calling" -> enter credentials for SIP account.
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Aw man, I HAVE to have Nebula/LinICS?
I know of a better simple way of doing it (making the sgp into a phone). I
There is a device called gmate and basically what you do is you take sim card (tmobile or at&t are the only carriers that use a gsm signal) put ur sim into the gmate and it just bluetooths the signal to your device. There you have it now your sgp is a phone
Please read more into it their is a thread on here somewhere
Sent from my YP-G70 using xda app-developers app
Here in the UK the carrier "3" and if I'm not wrong also GiffGaff sell a MI-FI to tether their 3G to any wi-fi capable device.
Any way to get a male Google now voice
km8j said:
Any way to get a male Google now voice
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I don't think there is a way, changing the TTS only affects everything else that is spoken except for Google Now, even changing the language in Google Now settings, will only yield the woman with an accent.
However, there are 3rd party apps (like utter!) that could accomplish this & maybe even the S-Voice. I haven't played around S-Voice because I don't like period.
It would be nice to have custom voices on Google Now, but I guess it uses its own TTS Engine separate from the phone.
southsidexz said:
I don't think there is a way, changing the TTS only affects everything else that is spoken except for Google Now, even changing the language in Google Now settings, will only yield the woman with an accent.
However, there are 3rd party apps (like utter!) that could accomplish this & maybe even the S-Voice. I haven't played around S-Voice because I don't like period.
It would be nice to have custom voices on Google Now, but I guess it uses its own TTS Engine separate from the phone.
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i don't believe the us english version of google txt to speech includes a male v.. haven't checked the others, but i doubt it. others do, but imo, googles is the best by far...